Research Finding:
Print rich environments in classrooms and libraries
are essential to reading achievement but only with
teachers trained in connecting children and books.
Comment
Higher socioeconomic status classrooms have more books
and more books displayed than do lower socioeconomic
classrooms. Higher socioeconomic status classrooms
provide more time for sustained silent reading. Similarly,
they provide more time for reading aloud of novels
This access to print predicts reading achievement,
even when socio-economic status is controlled.
Higher and medium school achievers are more likely
to be library users than low school achievers.
The presence of books is necessary but not always
sufficient. Indeed, "latchkey kids" left
at the library for free after school care do not typically
read, but rather hang out and play on the computers.
Attention >from a librarian or other helper can
get children interested in books and help them to discover
a "home run" book.
With training, teachers in print rich environments
are more likely to engage in reading aloud, to link
reading and writing activities, to promote books and
reading, to provide high interest reading and to plan
trips to the library, all of which contribute to reading
achievement and motivation.
Sources
Duke, N. (2000). For the rich, its richer: Print experiences
and environments offered to children in very low- and
very high-socioeconomic status first-grade classrooms. American
Educational Research Journal 37, 441-478.
Gottfried, A. E., Fleming, J. & Gottfried, A.
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Kim, J. & Krashen, S. (2000). Another home run. California
English 6(2), 25.
Krashen, S. (1993). The power of reading: Insights
from the research. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
McGill-Frantzen, A., Allington, R., Yokoi, L. & Brooks,
G. (1999). Putting books in the classroom seems necessary
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McQuillan, J. (1998). The literacy crisis: False
claims and real solutions. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Pack, S. (2000). Public library use, school performance
and the parental X-factor: A bio-documentary approach
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Ramos, F. & Krashen, S. (1998). The impact of
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may be the best incentive for reading. The Reading
Teacher 51, 614-615.
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